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MotoGP Portimao: Miller fastest in FP3 as Rossi continues to struggle

Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller came out on top in Saturday morning’s MotoGP FP3 shootout at Portimao after a dramatic late-battle saw impressive last-lap efforts from Miguel Oliveira and Alex Rins.

Cal Crutchlow initially placed his LCR Honda into Q2 contention on his 19th lap before the final hot-laps demoted the Brit to 11th in the session and 14th overall as Valentino Rossi’s woes continued.

The premier class flew out of the pits as their final shot at direct Q2 promotion began, Franco Morbidelli the current gatekeeper with 1’39.999 the time to beat.

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Pol Espargaro set the early pace as the morning session got up to speed with Fabio Quartararo taking over moments later. Home-talent Oliveira hit the top on his fourth effort before Takaaki Nakagami swept through with Andrea Dovizioso coming through to third the next time around.

Stefan Bradl showed the importance of the October test as he advanced the standings with 10 minutes gone but the times were still adrift of the necessary, with the German sitting 11th overall.

The half hour mark saw Espargaro find the limit of turn seven as the KTM ran off track, both bike and rider perfectly okay to continue as he set his fastest times of the session on his subsequent laps to sit fourth.

The closing 25 minutes allowed Oliveira to lead the way once again but the session’s top-three remained outside of the promotion zone as Friday’s afternoon pace had yet to be replicated. The elder Espargaro proving Friday’s strong performance was far from a one-off as he manhandled the Aprilia to second around the technical track, another winner of October’s outing thanks to the Italian firm’s concessions.

As the clock counted down the times began to heat up, Nakagami the first rider to break into the 1’39’s with Oliveira, Quartararo and Miller following suit as the Australian took control with a 1’39.414 and 11 minutes still to play out.

The final five minutes found all four Honda’s outside of the overall top-10, with Danillo Petrucci and Valentino Rossi continuing to struggle in 19th and 20th respectively, as the last-chance time-attacks began. The penultimate minute saw Crutchlow improve to eighth but a flurry of activity dropped him to the edge of the promotion zone moments later, his second attempt falling short of the needed momentum.

Rins rose to the top as the flag came out, after a quiet morning aboard the Suzuki but Oliveira and Miller were both on a charge, the Pramac rider beating the Tech3 man by 0.125 to take the session.

A revitalised Dovizioso put his Ducati machine in fourth ahead of Nakagami and Quartararo with Pol Espargaro, Bradl, Morbidelli and Maverick Viñales further behind. The Petronas man’s last lap was enough to take the session’s top-10 but fell short in the combined, sitting him 11th overall and heading into Q1, Johann Zarco’s Friday effort seeing him through to the afternoon shootout. 

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